


A New Chance

by Rentheraptor



Category: Rogue One: A Star Wars Story (2016), Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars: Rebellion Era - All Media Types
Genre: F/M, Fix-It of Sorts, Hurt and, Rebelcaptain - Freeform, Slow Burn, Somebody Lives/Not Everyone Dies
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-07-29
Updated: 2019-07-29
Packaged: 2020-07-25 01:15:20
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 11
Words: 12,603
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20024128
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rentheraptor/pseuds/Rentheraptor
Summary: A last minute rescue from Scarif still doesn't shield Jyn and Cassian of the effects of the war. . .





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Rated Mature because I think we might get dark as we go.
> 
> Also on 8/3 I changed the tenses of the verbs in the story, hope it reads better this way.

Chapter 1  
The Beach

Jyn was going to die. She was sure of that. She'd been ready for her own death before… but this time, it looked less like a possibility and more like a certainty.

The plans went through, so if someone was listening, as she desperately hoped they were…. She had succeeded in her mission. That was the important bit. She wasn't needed past that. She looked at Cassian, trying to find in his eyes if he had regrets. She saw none. The Captain was okay with dying for his rebellion, even if it meant dying here with her.

When the elevator shudders to a stop, Jyn pulls Cassian's arm over her shoulder and slowly started toward the beach. He is struggling to remain upright , content to follow her lead. She figures if they are going to die, they may as well enjoy the scenery.

Jyn spent her walk trying to find words… to thank Cassian for trusting her, for helping her, for climbing up a tower while terribly injured to save her and the mission. . . but she didn't know how to start. She focuses on putting one foot in front of the other and keeping herself upright. She is doing better than Cassian, but not by much. Slowly, they make their way to the water's edge.

Jyn stops, not sure where to go from here. She helps Cassian to the sand and slowly lowers herself beside him. Even that movement sent sharp stabs of pain through her. She turns to her partner, not sure what to say in these final moments. Instead she looks from him, to the bright light making its way across the water toward them. After Jehda, she knew that light meant death. Jyn didn't particularly want to think about that. She turns back to Cassian. He finds words first. "Your father would be proud of you Jyn."

Tears filled her eyes and the lump in her throat made her unable to respond. All she could do is find his hand and hold on, hoping to have some contact at the end. He turned and embraced her, both holding on for dear life.

A shout broke the revere. "CAPTAIN ANDOR"

Jyn looks up. A ship is hovering above them, hatch open… coming to rescue them. The pilot gestures away from the approaching light.

There was no time to lose. They got up and struggled as fast as they could toward the ship. The ground around them shakes and rocks and pieces of debris fly by. The deadly light hadn't reached them yet but the shock wave had and the heat was starting to…

The ship is less than 100 yards away, behind what remained of an imperial building. Jyn and Cassian hurried toward it, trying to avoid thinking about what is behind them. The ship is now 25 yards away; they were going to make it…

Until the buildings next to them explode. Jyn feels Cassian's arm torn from her grasp as she flies through the air… then her world goes dark for a few seconds as she hits the sand.

She starts moving again before she even fully comes to, crawling in the direction of the ship, shrieking for Cassian. At least she thought that's what she was screaming, the explosion is still ringing in her ears. Ahead she saw a rebel soldier half carrying Cassian into the ship. By the time he returns for her, she's made it to the ramp. The rebel tugs her into the ship and yells "Go". The pilot took off.

Jyn lay in the hold… reaching again for Cassian's hand. He squeezes back, proving to her he iss still alive. As the ship jolts to light speed, Jyn passes out.


	2. The Med Bay - Cassian

Cassian opened his eyes. That in itself surprises him. He hadn't exactly expected to make it off Scarif alive. He iss laying in a bed with some sort of bandage against his back. Had anyone else made it here? Had Jyn? He remembered her grabbing his hand as they left the planet so…

Cassian lifts his head, trying to see who else is around. General Draven is talking to a medic on the other side of the room. He assumes he must be in the med bay on Yavin 4. He also assumes he was in a lot of trouble for going to Scarif against orders. Cassian tries to look around farther but it made his head spin. He briefly considers pretending to be asleep, but Draven turned around too quickly.

Damn.

"Captain Andor!" the general calls across the room. Oh good. He isn't demoted quite yet.

"General." Cassian attempts a salute but his arms were heavy and didn't quite cooperate.

"No need for ceremony. Glad to see you're okay."

Cassian wasn't quite sure how okay he was yet and if Draven was being compassionate…. Either something had happened or he had been at death's door. Or both. He starts to look around again, slower this time as to not make the room shake quite so badly.

"Did Jyn… Sgt. Erso… did she make it back?" Cassian tried to keep his voice level but it cracked with audible emotion. Draven looked surprised.

"Sgt Erso? She's here." He extends a hand and helps Cassian slowly sit up and take a look at his surroundings for the first time.

Jyn lays on a bed about ten feet from his. Faint bruises can still be seen on her face but she seemed to be breathing.

"See? She's alive. " Draven reassures him.

Cassian breathes a sigh of relief, almost embarrassed for the general to see the tears welling in his eyes. "And the rest of the crew?"

The general looks him square in the face. . "You were the only survivors from the ground battle."

That meant… the men he had lead into the mission… the guardians of the Whills… Bohdi… all gone. His fault.

Cassian swallows the lump rising in his throat. "Did you get the plans?"

It was Draven's turn to look embarrassed… "Yes. We think."

"You THINK?"

"The plans made it out… but the ship was captured by the empire. We have received a transmission from Princess Leia that indicates she's on her way here with them now. Unfortunately… there was additional casualties"

"What kind of casualties?"

"Alderaan was destroyed by the Death star. Senator Bail Organa died in the attack."

Bail was gone. Cassian had liked the older man, admired him even. Another casualty of this war. Things seemed to happen so fast.

"Just the capitol city, I assume?"

"No. The whole planet is gone."

"A whole planet… just vaporized… how long was I out?", He stammers.

"A little over two and a half days…. We kept you both sedated in Bacta for a while. That way you wouldn't make any head injuries worse. I'm amazed you made it out, you had yourself beat up pretty bad. It was touch and go. Had to work on knitting your ribs together and getting enough treatment for your internal injuries. You may have a rough go trying to get around for a bit. What the hell happened to you?"

Cassian grunts "Fell down a couple stories of a tower only to climb back up it. What's wrong with Jyn?"

"She was actually in better shape then you were. Surface injuries mostly. Burns, severe bruises. She's gonna have a brace on her ankle for a while, she shattered it pretty good. She does have a concussion she's going to need to baby for a bit, that's why they kept her asleep longer. I'm not sure how the hell you didn't give yourself one, falling like that. But she'll be fine."

"Do we have a plan to take on the Death Star?"

"We will make one as soon as the plans arrive. Until then, you're under strict orders to rest. Ms. Erso . . "

"Sergeant"

"Since when is she Sergeant? . . . we will have to talk about that later. But she'll be waking up soon and will be confused. Stay with her."

"You couldn't order me to leave."

"Apparently I couldn't order you to stay here either. Someday we will have to talk about that…. But until then…. Thank you captain."

Draven left the med bay, leaving Cassian to his thoughts.


	3. The Med Bay - Jyn

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for all the kind words so far! I changed the tense on 8/3, should help the flow.

Pain. That was Jyn’s first impression when reason returned to her brain. Pain and the lingering fog of the sedation. She wasn’t sure where she was or what happened but her eyelids were too heavy to open. And her head hurt terribly. She was aware of time passing in this twilight state, but not how much. It could have been minutes or hours as she drifted in and out of sleep. As the haze slowly passed, she worked to become aware of her surroundings. 

Jyn had been raised as a guerrilla fighter. She isn’t going to open her eyes and risk signaling any enemies that she's aware until she had a better idea of what she is dealing with. The fog and pain require her to focus on one sense at a time. 

Hearing: soft machine noises. Small sounds of footsteps in the distance. Soft breathing somewhere near her. 

Smell: The sterile smell of a medical facility. 

Touch: A soft bed beneath her. Cool cotton sheets. Something tight on her right ankle. The pain in her head. And the warm pressure of someone…. Holding her hand?

The last time Jyn remembered her hand being held was when she left Papa… his big rough hands in hers for the last time. This is a man’s hand… calloused and large… and somehow familiar. 

Jyn’s eyes flutter open. She’d been right. She was in a medical facility, laying on a bed. And a man was dozing in a chair next to her, holding her hand. 

Flashes of memory return to Jyn. Papa’s wasn’t the last hand she held. She recalled running… a ship jumping to hyperspace.. A mission of some sort…. And this man squeezing her hand as she passed out. It is all she can manage as pain flashs through her head and the fog won't lift. She decides to respond to the last memory she has. She squeezes the hand holding hers. 

The man wakes with a start. Once his eyes were open, Jyn saw that he looked about as terrible as she felt. 

“Jyn. Thank the force you’re awake.” 

Jyn tries to speak but nothing quite came out. She just stares, not sure whether she should try to bolt or not. Generally her strategy is to run first and ask questions later… but she didn’t know if she trusted her legs yet. Besides, she has no idea where she is. The man’s face is tinged with sadness at her reaction. But he swallows the emotion and offered her a cup of water. When her arms are too leaden to move, he holds it to her lips. 

Draining the cup, Jyn is able to dispel some of the fog. Until she tries to sit up and pain and dizziness shot through her head. The man catches her elbow and helps her sit up. 

“Shhh careful. Don’t try to move too much yet. You hit your head during the escape.”

The man spoke Basic to her but with an accent that is oddly familiar, as the pressure of his hand had been. His skin is darker than hers, a tan hand against her cream one. His dark hair is messy and his dark eyes searched hers for understanding. Not finding much seemed to upset him. 

“Wh...Where are we?” She manages to squeak out. 

“The med bay of the Rebellion Base. On Yavin 4. They brought us back here after they got us off Scarif.”

Back? Yavin 4? Scarif… Suddenly Jyn remembers so much more of what lead her here. A mission, taken against all advice. A message from her father. A team that followed her to the last. And the man who welcomed her home…

“Cassian!” Jyn breathes.

To her suprise, a tear seemed to run down Cassian’s face. But he smiles. 

“I thought you didn’t remember me… that would have hurt.” He admitted. 

“It’s all fuzzy.” Jyn complains. “The pain doesn’t help and I feel … hazy.”

“They kept you sedated for quite a bit. You have a concussion and they didn’t want you to make it worse.”

“Well that would explain why my head feels like it’s going to explode.”

Cassian smiles again. “Sorry.” He said. “I shouldn’t be happy… but you sound like… well… you again.”

He offers her more water and a pill. She swallows both the painkiller and her pride. “Can I… Can I lay back down to talk?” 

He gently helps her lay back down. The dizziness stops and she can breath again. 

“How long have I been out?” 

“From what they told me, just over 2 and a half days.”

“But… what…”

“Tell me what you remember and I’ll fill in the gaps for you, okay? The staff said it would be normal for you to be confused when you woke up. It won’t last forever.”

“I was in … prison. Wobani. And a droid broke me out.”

“Yes. We identified that you were useful to the rebel alliance so Kaytoo brought you here.”

“You wanted to talk to Saw. So… we went to Jedha. The empire was occupying there but at the kyber temple…. Chirrut and Baze. They helped us through.”

Jyn looked around for them but the rest of med bay is empty …. Cassian shakes his head. 

“Let’s just go in order…. We will get to it all. We went to talk to Saw and heard . . “

“The message. From my father.” Jyn isn’t sure if she could say much more than that. A lump forms in her throat at the memory of her father’s words to her.

Cassian understood. “Yes. he told us about the fault in the death star… in time for us to see it destroy Jedha. Saw stayed behind and died in the attack. We barely made it to the ship with our little crew. Kaytoo, Chirrut, Baze and Bohdi.”

“The Pilot my father sent to us”

“Correct” Cassian didn’t seem especially eager about this part of the story. 

“And so we came back here to launch the attack?. . .”

“No… we went to Eadu. To get your father.”

Memories were slowly returning to Jyn…. A crash landing, a secretive mission, a rifle Kaytoo said was in sniper configuration… a rain of blaster fire seen on a landing pad…Her breath hitched in her throat. 

“I won’t lie to you Jyn.” Cassian’s voiceis steel, yet had a vunerable shake to it. “I was sent to Eadu to kill your father. It was strict orders. But when they lost contact with us, they called in the fleet, thinking we had failed and your father had turned to be part of the Empire. I hesitated on taking my shot. But when they told me the fleet was on their way to attack… and I saw you on the platform… all thought of my mission was forgotten. I went to save you.”

Jyn’s breaths continue to be shallow as her eyes welled. It iss clear to her why her mind had left this blank. “Go on.” She prompts.

“They couldn’t call off the attack. The alliance came in to take out the base… to take out those building the Death Star. Your father was hit in the attack… I arrived to find him dying in your arms… the only thing I could think to do was to save you… and let you hate me for it.” 

Jyn iss overwhelmed but one thought was clear to her. Through tears, she mumbles “I don’t hate you. I could never…” 

A dam broke then. Turning her back on Cassian, Jyn curls into a ball and sobs. She sobs like she hadn’t since the day she saw her mother die in front of her. Sobs for the little girl who had to grow up then… the little girl she became again at the moment her father was snatched from her again, right when she found out he was still alive. Sobs because she had a feeling this would not be the last death in this story. Sobs because she, who had been on her own in theory for most of her life… was finally an orphan. Saw was gone. Her father was gone. 

Jyn sobs for herself, for her family, for her friends. For the childhood she’d lost and the one she knew Cassian never had. She cried a decade’s worth of tears at once. Through it all, she felt Cassian’s warm hands tracing circles on her back, murmuring soothing words in a language she didn’t understand. After she’d cried herself out, she turned back to Cassian, embarrassed that he’d seen her break down. He takes both her hands in his and helps her sit up. Jyn is handed a handkerchief and poured another glass of water. 

“Are you okay?” he asks simply, returning his hands to hers but clearly not wanting too much affection to make her uncomfortable. “That was a lot to take in at once.”

Jyn nods and swallows hard, barreling ahead in the story. “So then… we took it to the council… and they told us not to go?” 

“Yes. The council voted against it. . . But… I believed you. And I believed in us and our team. We could do this and it might be the only way to save the alliance.”

“I remember. You welcomed me home.”

“So… off we went. How much of Scarif do you remember?”

“More than I want to. Did anyone else…. Make it. . . . back?

“No. We are the only ones from the ground fight who managed to come back… and it was pretty close for us. That isn’t all. Admiral Raddus is gone. The fleet… once they realized we left… they went to help.”

The question Jyn wants to ask is almost unbearable. But she had to know if all of this was worth it. 

“Did the plans make it out?”

Cassian nods. “Yes. The ship carrying them was captured by the Empire but they’re free and making their way to us as they speak. We did it.”

Jyn’s voice comes out a whisper. “Do you know what happened to the others? How they died? I know K2SO died to protect us. I’m so sorry” 

Cassian shakes his head, unable to talk about Kaytoo. “Only bits from what the crew flying over to find survivors and those in the space battle were able to put together. Chirut and Baze went down near what they think was the master switch to get the communications lines open. Bodhi . . . the ship exploded. Right after they got word to the fleet that we needed the gate open. The last thing the comm caught was “This is for you, Galen”.The rest of the men. . . I don’t know. The empire realized what we were doing and sent in their full force.”

“If the plans get here… do they think the Death Star can be stopped?” 

“It has to be… they just told me… Jyn, it’s worse than we thought.”

“How can it be worse than Jedha? Worse than Scarif?” 

“They destroyed another planet. It’s just… gone. Aldaraan. Bail Organa… A senator with the alliance… died there. A whole planet just… vaporized.” 

The enormity of the weapon her father had built, under duress or not weighs on Jyn. This was his legacy… until they could destroy it. 

“How in the hell did we survive?” She asks. “How did you even... “

“I don’t know.” Cassian admits. “They had to figure out how to put my ribs together, stop me from bleeding out internally and from the sounds of it, one of my legs is now mostly metal pins. They managed to fix the fractures in my spine since none were serious. Apparently you did much better. Basic injuries, severe but nothing we haven’t seen before. Took some work getting your ankle fixed so they want you to wear a brace on it.”

“Why did they keep me out for so long then?” 

“You hit your head as we were escaping. They hoped if you were asleep, your concussion would heal faster.”

Jyn attempts a small smile. “Well. Despite the best efforts of the empire and that man in white… I’m still here. And so are you.”

Cassian moves his chair closer to her bed. “In white? From the intelligence on the weapon… I believe that was Director Krennic.”

“He’s just … always been there. All of my worst moments. Scarif and Eadu… but also… he’s the one who came to take my father away… when I was little. He ordered my mother shot.” 

“He’s gone now. He won’t be there anymore.”

Jyn struggles for words. Looking into Cassian’s eyes was intense. How did you speak to someone you had expected to die with? 

“Thank you.” She finally says. “For trusting me.”

Cassian raises one of his hands to her cheek, “it’s like you said. Trust goes both ways.” 

Then he leans in and kisses her. Without a second of hesitation, she kisses him right back. 

By all accounts, the kiss is short and chaste. Jyn’s head spins and aches. Cassian is clearly in pain from sitting up so long. They broke apart. Not a moment too soon, as a medic walked into the room. 

“Oh good, you’re awake. Did captain Andor give you the pain pill I left for you?” She asks. 

“Yes.” Jyn replies. Truthfully, she is starting to feel the drug work and she's getting drowsy. 

“Well I’m going to check your vitals and then you need to rest. Captain Andor, you need to go back to bed.”

Cassian shrugs and stiffly makes his way out of his chair, reaching for a cane Jyn hadn’t seen against the wall. She gasps softly. Cassian gives a small chuckle. 

“Falling down a tower will do that.” He continues to laugh as he makes his way back to his bed. 

The medic makes Jyn give her information and follow a light with her eyes, but she is too tired to protest. She barely hears the medic go to Cassian’s bed before she is asleep again.


	4. Yavin IV - Cassian

Cassian took a last look in the mirror. A nap and a shower has him feeling a little more like himself but the feeling is fleeting. He has convinced the medics that he’d be fine to get ready on his own, but it was rough going . He waited on the heavier painkillers, wanting to remain somewhat clear headed for this meeting with Draven. But his sharp uniform betrays exactly how weak he feels. His repaired leg was clunky and his spine was stiff. It was all sore and would be for a good long while, according to the staff. 

Apparently falling down a tower was not recommended. Also not recommended was climbing up it again rather than waiting for medical attention. 

Oh well. Better weak than dead. Cassian makes his way out of the refresher, leaning heavily on his cane. A glance toward the beds shows him Jyn was sleeping peacefully, but they put a Bacta tray down so the whole back of her head is in it. The medics had mentioned to him that they could try to see if her concussion could be helped a little more this way, at least to relieve the headaches. Cassian just chuckles. She i s probably going to be pissed she has to get it out of her hair, Bacta has a smell to it. He limps his way over and plants a kiss on her forehead. Heisn't sure yet what exactly they were, but she means the world to him in a way no one has… not for a long time. 

Jyn mumbles something in her sleep. Cassian smiles and makes his way to his meeting with Draven. 

\---------------------------------------------------------------------

“WHAT THE HELL WERE YOU THINKING?”

Cassian has been with the rebellion since he was 6. He has seen and gone through things no person should survive. He still flinches as Draven yells. 

The meeting had started pleasantly enough as Draven inquired about Jyn and how Cassian was feeling. Then he switched to yelling. Cassian tries to head him off. 

“With all due respect sir…”

Draven looks like he was about to continue his tirade but thinks better of it. He takes a deep breath, holds it, and sits back down. 

Cassian decides that is his signal to continue. “I made a choice by considering what we had to lose. I couldn’t see another Jedha… could you bear to see another Alderaan?”

Draven fumes “Against orders of the council….”

“I was to kill Galen Erso against orders of the council as well. On your orders. ” 

Draven bristlea. “A single assasination isn’t a suicide mission. 

“Was it suicide? I came back, didn’t I?” Cassian knows he is pushing his luck. 

“TWO! Out of a dozen. Why didn’t you at least tell me what you were planning?”

This throws Cassian for a moment. “You wouldn’t have defied the council.” 

“For this… I might have. But I could have lost my best man on Scarif. I still might, if he doesn’t recover fully.”

With a start, Cassian realizes that the general is referring to him. 

“Sir… I lost a lot of men on Scarif. I feel each one of those losses and I take each seriously. But I don’t regret going. I did what I felt was right. Not a single man was there because I ordered them to be. Everyone volunteered. Everyone knew what we faced.”

Sighing, Draven put his head in his hands. “I think . . . I think you did the right thing. I don’t like HOW you did it and I still have half a mind to court martial you for it. But the council needed a push to pull us into an Alliance and this was it. But at what cost to us…”

“Would the cost have been better if we let them vaporize us? They still could! Where are those plans now?” 

“Princess Leia has made contact again. We expect her ship here in the morning. 

“Do you think we can do it General… can we destroy it?”

“We have to. We have to destroy it, or it will destroy us. Your mission to Scarif united us and gave us hope. We just need to use it now…”

“What does our new unity mean for the rest of us?”

“I don’t know Captain. Head back and get some rest. I’m assuming the Princess will want to speak to you when she arrives. If she’s in any condition to. They held her for more than a day on that Death Star…. Who knows what they did to her.”

“Does she know about Alderaan?”

“She does. She should be okay. She’s tougher than they give her credit for. Bail brought her up right. Now go back to the Med Bay Cassian. Either they’ll make you sleep there or discharge you, but either way, you still look like hell.”

“Feel like it too.” Cassian picks up his cane and makes his way to the door.

“Cassian...Son…”

Cassian almost does a double take. Draven had never called him that… he wasn’t one for terms of endearment. Although strange to him, he liked it. 

“Yes?”

“Try not to disobey the council for the next few days, okay? And if you feel the need to, inform me first.”

Cassian smiles. “I’ll try.”

\---------------------------------------------------------------

Cassian arrives back at the med bay to find that Jyn was awake, showered, and angry. He walks into an argument between her and one of the medics. 

“I feel fine! I promise I’ll rest. I just can’t rest HERE.” Her look around her clearly expresses how she felt about medical facilities. She was dressed in soft, casual pants and a loose top. Suitable for wear in your off duty hours. Clearly whoever brought them to her expected her to go back to bed or at least lie quietly. Cassian suppresses a chuckle. They didn’t know Jyn very well. 

“Ms. Erso, you don’t have quarters assigned or a job, you aren’t in the Rebellion’s system! We can’t discharge you without a place to go…”

Cassian decides to step in before Jyn spots him. “I apologize ma’am, my paperwork must have been delayed by my absence. Sgt. Erso here is a member of my company. I’ll get her set up elsewhere and sign for her discharge and mine, straight away.” Cassian smiles his most charming smile, used to convince female informants to give him information. He hopes it works…. And that Jyn sees what he is doing and doesn't argue with him.

Jyn, to her credit, plays along, “See, Captain Andor and I know we will have to check in daily, maybe twice a day. But you may need the space soon! With the Princess coming back, who knows what might happen?”

The smile and Jyn’s quick thinking seem to work. “I suppose that could be the case…. Captain Andor, neither of you are cleared for field duty yet. I don’t think Ms. Erso even has quarters….”

“I’ve got it all…” Cassian assures her. “Just let us sign out. We will rest and check back in the morning.”

A few more reassurances and charming smiles and they were on their way with strict instructions as to a regime of medication and restrictions. Cassian dutifully recites them back to the medic, trying not to show how much it hurt to stand. Jyn seems in better shape, but pulling rank was only going to work for him here. Finally they make it out of the Med bay. Cassian manages to walk to a lounge in the same building before needing to sit down. 

“Are you okay?” Jyn asks, looking very worried. “You told her you were fine.”

“I always tell them I’m fine. It’s not my fault they keep believing me. How’s your head?”

“Not perfect but the last bit of Bacta seems to have helped the pain. They told me I could still have memory problems and heightened emotions for a week or more. But… that still doesn’t solve my main problem.”

“Which is…?”

“I don’t have anywhere to go. I don’t know if I stay with the Alliance or leave, I don’t have a bunk or anything. Do you think they’d set me up in the barracks if I haven’t signed yet? I just… don’t know if I can make it on my own yet.” 

Cassian is shocked. Jyn being vulnerable was new to him. Her brush with death and her head injury seemed to have brought out some emotions he has never seen in her. Or maybe now, when they were harder to hide, she entrusts him with her worries. 

“You’re the rebellion’s hero” He points out. “Of course they’d let you stay.”

“I’m also the daughter of the man who built the Death Star. There is blood on my family name right now.” She bites her lip. 

She has a point, Cassian decides. “Well,” he says, “I’m an officer with private quarters. You can stay with me… if you want.”

“I couldn’t impose on you like that…”

“Jyn… look at me. I would rather not be alone. I’m not trying to… take advantage of you. I just would rather stay with someone who was there. The other one who survived. Someone who understands. I mean…. If you’d rather have privacy, I can try to get you the rank you deserve, but that might take a while. I’m sure they’d give you a bed in the meantime . .. ” 

He's babbling. He should really stop that. Emotions are rather new to Cassian and he is not doing well at them. 

Jyn cracks a small smile. “I’d like to not be alone for a while.”

Well that settles it. Cassian struggles to his feet. Jyn, without thinking, links elbows with him. Together they slowly make their way to Officer’s Quarters.


	5. Yavin 4 - Jyn

Cassian’s quarters are about what Jyn suspects of the man. A double bed made neatly, everything tidy. A door to a small refresher stands open. Everything in its place. 

He seems more nervous than she’d ever seen him. “I can have someone get a cot for me… we don’t have to …”

Jyn helps him sit on the edge of the bed. “We can share.” She whispers. “Maybe it’ll help.”

In his eyes, she finds the truth. Jyn was not the only one who had nightmares of Scarif, Eadu, Jedha… along with many other places, other missions. Her hand finds the necklace she hasn’t taken off since her mother had placed it around her neck. 

Cassian nods. “Did you eat? I can talk someone into bringing something by…”

“I ate.” Jyn replies. “But I don’t have clothes or… anything. Only my boots and vest survived Scarif. I’ve only got what they gave me. So it’s back to where I was in Wobani.”

Cassian laughs “Well, I’d hope you’re a little better off than that. Hand me my datapad and I’ll take care of it.” 

Jyn does so wordlessly and watches Cassian tap away on the device, both trying to memorize how he looked and guarding herself from how she felt. The last time she felt attraction to someone, they were another casualty of the Galactic Civil War. The War took all she’d ever loved. She is guarded because of it. As open as she wants to be… she is just waiting for this to be taken from her too. 

Cassian ceases his tapping on the datapad. “Are you alright? You look…. Worried.”

Jyn shakes her head. “Tired. That’s the other thing they told me. I’d be tired because I hit my head.” 

“Pain meds then bed?” He asks. 

Jyn eyes the meds they had placed on the dresser. “I don’t like them.” She confesses. “They make the nightmares worse.” 

Cassian struggles to his feet and gives her a tight hug, “I’ll protect you from nightmares if you protect me.” He breathes. 

Jyn smiles in spite of herself. “Deal.” On Cassian’s directions, she finds glasses and fills them with water. He clinkes his to hers in a mock toast before swallowing his pain pills. She does the same. She had noticed his laughter lines when they first met but never expected to be around long enough to see this side of him. 

Jyn turns down the bed and crawls in while Cassian changes. Somehow, this seemed much too intimate. Cassian crawls in next to her, but sensing her tension, stays on the opposite side of the bed. 

“Jyn, I don’t expect… Force, I CAN’T do anything right now… even if we wanted to…. I just…”

His voice cracks and with a start, she realizes he has tears in his eyes. 

“When I woke up… after Scarif… for those first few moments, I thought I lost you. I’d rather have you close.” 

She laces her fingers with his. “We made it out,” she says. “The empire couldn’t take that from us.”

Cassian wraps an arm around her waist, and she falls asleep.

________________________________________________________________________

Jyn is rudely awoken by someone knocking on the door. It takes her a few moments to figure out where she is and why there is a man in bed with her. By the time Jyn had it all worked out, Cassian is getting out of bed. He moved stiffly, mumbling curses in Festian. He grabs his cane and answers the door, only opening it wide enough to talk without exposing that Jyn is there with him. 

The rebel on the other side hands him a package and leaves. Cassian makes his way back to the bed and sat on the edge next to where Jyn is perched. 

“What’s that?” She asked. 

“Clothes for you, ration bars for breakfast, and a summons to go talk to the council. Princess Leia has arrived…. She has the plans for the death star.” 

Jyn feels both overwhelming relief and confusion. “A princess…?”

“Of Alderaan. Or she was a princess but Alderaan is gone. You remember Bail Organa?” 

“Yes.” Jyn had known him when she’d arrived at the rebel base for the first time, known him as the senator she saw on the holo-net. It tugged at her to know he had been killed by the Death Star. 

“His adopted daughter. She was held prisoner on the Death Star but escaped. But… her parents and planet are gone. She’s lost everything but this rebellion.”

“And hope”

“And hope” Cassian corrects himself, handing her a ration bar and a bottle of water. She opens it. 

“A sad breakfast for the rebellions heroes.” Jyn quips. 

“Well I didn’t want to go to the mess hall and deal with questions. And the Officer’s mess is full of people wondering why I didn’t listen to orders.”

Jyn nods a reply and chews her ration. When she is done, she changes into the clothes they had found for her. She iss wearing a rebellion uniform pants and shirt, even though she’d never officially joined. She guessed sticking around meant it is implied at the moment. Cassian grins at the sight. 

“Look at you. You look … official. And beautiful.” 

Jyn accepts his compliment begrudingly. “We should probably check in at the med bay before they send a search party out for us.” She grumbles. Cassian groans but got his cane and headed for the door. 

\--------------------------------------------------------------

After a quick check up in the Med Bay where they were deemed to be “on the mend”, Cassian and Jyn head to the center of rebellion operations. Leia had called only Cassian for the meeting, but Jyn was not about to leave him to fend for himself yet. They are pulled into a conference room off the main hall. Leia had handed the Death Star plans over to the engineers and they have them projected, pouring over to find the potential weakness. General Draven gives Jyn a curt nod. She assumes there was no love lost between them. 

Princess Leia is introduced to Cassian, as they’d only met briefly before. He then introduces her to Jyn. To the assembled crowd, they tell the basic story of their mission to find Jyn’s father, then their trip to Scarif for the plans. They gloss over most of it, unable to revisit it just yet. 

Leia is an attentive audience. She asks Cassian several questions about the locations of other rebel groups and informants he had reached out to in the past. Jyn pretends to be interested, mainly lost in her own thoughts. She snaps to attention when she hears her name. 

“Yes?” She answers, not sure who was speaking. 

“What exactly did your father say about the weakness in the Death Star again?” Leia repeats.

Jyn struggles to remember her father’s exact words. “One blast to the reactor module and the whole system goes down ”

Leia turns to the engineers. “Does that give you a starting point?” 

“Yes ma’am.” They reply together. 

“Good.”

“Your Highness, I’m afraid we have received some troubling reports. . . “ Draven cuts in. 

“Yes?”

“We believe… the Empire tracked you here…”

Jyn’s blood runs cold. She instinctively reachs for Cassian’s hand. Had she escaped death on Scarif, only to be taken out here? Old instincts kick in. Jyn begins to look for a way out. She and Cassian could steal a ship, get off Yavin 4… 

An unfamiliar man in Corellian Bloodstripes and a vest breaks in. “We went through hyperspace to get here. How could they track us?” 

“I don’t know. Mon Mothma has been evacuated due to this threat. Since… the loss of Bail, Leia is standing in his stead” The general looked defeated.

Leia regains control of the room. “Our plan is as follows. Communications needs to keep monitoring for signs of the empire approaching. Our engineers will search for the fault in the Death Star and intelligence will be notified when we can begin to make a plan to destroy it. Captain Andor, I know you are on medical leave but we may need to summon you for planning. I will address the assembled group outside in a few minutes. We will meet again this afternoon for discussion. Dismissed” 

The various members of the meeting committee filter slowly out of the room. Cassian remains seated at the table, intently studying the Death Star plans. Jyn watchs Leia, a woman who had lost everything, speak to each officer and continue to hold her head high. When the Princess turns to her, Jyn struggles to find words.

“Your highness, I’m… so sorry.” She offered. “Bail Organa was a good man.” 

“Thank you.” Leia replies. “So was Galen Erso.” 

Jyn finds herself embracing the princess for a moment, two women who had lost their worlds, trying to keep alive with hope. 

\-------------------------------

Five minutes later, Jyn is walking out of the meeting room, trailing Cassian. He is walking heavily with his cane, deep in conversation with another intelligence operative. Jyn assumes they were discussing how to figure out if the empire is coming to their door. She still feels panicked when she thinks of it and longed to get Cassian alone. Just outside the door, a man bumps into her hard and blocks her path. 

She looked up, assuming it was a mistake. 

“You the Erso girl?” He sounds accusing.  
Jyn gives a non-commital shrug and looks ahead to find Cassian. 

“Traitorous bitch.” the man yells.  
At his shout, Jyn sees Cassian turn out of the corner of her eye. She put her hands up in front of her, showing the man she is unarmed. At the same time however, she slides one leg back into a fighting stance, to minimize the target if he was going to hit her. 

Instead, he went for his holster. Jyn hears Cassian shout for her, but doesn't have time to move before the man fires one shot into her. She feels a searing pain and then . . . blackness.


	6. Yavin - Cassian

Cassian feels his world shatter. 

He had turned at the sound of a yell, someone had called Jyn a “traitorous bitch”. That was enough to make him start toward the commotion. But before he could move more than a step, the man pulled the trigger. Cassian sees Jyn hit with a blaster bolt and hears the thud of her body hitting the ground. 

He runs, repaired leg be damned, pain be damned, anything but him getting to her side as fast as possible can wait. Cassian does not even spare a thought for the shooter. He drops to his knees and feels Jyn’s wrist for a pulse. 

It’s weak, but it’s there. She even stirs, surprising him.

“Cassian?” She rasps. 

“I’m here. Shhh don’t talk. Help is coming.” He hopes that’s true at least. Cassian frantically looks her over. The blaster wound missed her heart, but that’s where her luck ended. Jyn’s shirt had a very distinct burn mark, where the bolt had gone through the bottom of her rib cage. She’d hit her head and was bleeding profusely from it. Her breathing was labored. He keeps talking to her, in a mix of Basic and Festian, begging her to stay with him. 

Jyn’s eyes roll back in her head and she goes still. Her pulse under Cassian’s fingers fades away. 

Shit. SHIT. 

“Someone get a medic, get help.” He frantically yells at the few rebels still nearby. He starts to compress Jyn’s chest, frantically willing her heart to beat again for him. His own injuries make it hard for him to keep going, but he has to, has to keep her alive. The Corellian who was in the meeting earlier smacks his shoulder.   
“I’ve got this.” He said. “Breathe for her.” 

Cassian tilts Jyn’s chin back, like he’d been taught, and blows air into her lungs. He waits while the man compresses her heart. Cassian grabs a cloth from his pocket and tries to stop her head from bleeding. At the other man’s signal, he continues to breathe for Jyn. 

After what seems like hours, but must have been only a matter of moments, Cassian hears the medical team arriving. While he’s giving a breath, the Corellian uses his knife to cut Jyn’s shirt open, then yanks Cassian back. The medical team attaches paddles immediately and sends a shock through Jyn’s body.

Cassian waits, terrified as a medic holds his fingers at her throat….

After the longest second of Cassian’s life, the medic finds her pulse. Jyn is bundled onto a stretcher and wheeled away as Cassian struggles to keep pace with her. Someone holds him back as she’s taken away from him, a medic using mask to force her to breathe. 

Cassian fights the restraint, not sure what he can do but knowing he has to stay with her.   
“Captain. CAPTAIN. Cassian. SON. Listen to me.” 

With a start, Cassian realizes it is General Draven holding him back. He stops struggling and turns to face him. 

“She’s in good hands.” He says “There is nothing you can do.” 

Cassian knows he’s right. But admitting it feels like a failure. He allows Draven to guide him back to the privacy of his office. Once he is sat in a chair and the door closes behind him, Cassian allows himself to finally breathe. And surprising even himself, Captain Andor begins to cry.


	7. Back to the Med Bay - Cassian

It never gets fucking easier, Cassian thinks to himself. It never does. As he is an Officer in the Rebel Alliance, he often has had to visit his men in the med bay. Even on several occasions, he’s had to eulogize them, giving them that final tribute. This, however, ranks as the worst trip to the med bay he’s ever experienced, bar none. 

They had stayed in Draven’s office for a long while, mostly in silence. A subordinate had come in to tell the General that they found the shooter, he had run and taken his own life. He was from Aldaraan and had lost his whole family to the Death Star. He clearly blamed Galen Erso and by extension, Jyn.

After two solid hours sitting, Cassian had clearance to go talk to the medics. Draven insisted Cassian stop by his quarters to change first, his “reporting to a princess” uniform is covered in Jyn’s blood. He doesn’t care, tosses it aside and puts on his usual pants and his jacket.The jacket made it off Scarif looking better than he did. When he emerged, he found the General still waiting for him. 

“I’ll go with you.” He said quietly. They set off together, Draven keeping his pace slow so Cassian didn’t have to rush with his cane. 

So there they were now, sitting in a small waiting area, waiting for someone to tell him if Jyn was even alive. He sat thinking, sure they were going to come tell him she had died on the table, they hadn’t been able to save her, that she had died for what someone assumed was her father’s sin. Cassian had never been an optimistic person, but this level of negativity was new to him. It seems Scarif and the mission there had affected him more than he thought. A life in intelligence took a toll either way, but something about losing so many and being right in the middle of a battle. . . his emotions were on high. Mostly, he couldn’t let her go without at least telling her, to her face, that he loved her. The practicing he had done when she was still sedated didn’t count. Neither did the mess of ways he had told her in Festian when he was trying to get her to stay awake and breathing after she was shot. If she was gone… he’d lost his chance. 

Cassian’s reverie is broken by a medic approaching. He jumps to his feet, forgetting about his bad leg. “How is she? Is she okay? Is she…. Is she alive?”

“Captain Andor? Please sit down.” 

Cassian’s heart sinks. He is about to argue but General Draven’s hand on his elbow convinced him to sit. He repeats himself, “Is Jyn, Sgt. Erso… is she okay?” 

The medic sighs. “Sgt. Erso is… considered critical but stable.”  
“What does that mean?”

“She’s unconscious and will likely be for a while. Her heart is currently doing fine but she cannot breathe on her own. She’s on a ventilator. We were able to stop her from bleeding internally, but she lost quite a bit of blood. We’re giving her a transfusion. She also hit her head when she fell. We don’t know yet how exactly her brain will respond to that, especially if she got a concussion on top of the last one.”

“What will her recovery be like?”

“I’ll be frank with you Captain, we aren’t sure if she will recover.”

Cassian is very glad he’s sitting down at this moment. His hand holding his cane is shaking and he feels like he can’t breathe. 

“You have to understand…”He pleads with her, “She’s a fighter, she’ll make it out of this.”

“Captain, there is a chance that is true. But there is also many ways it could go wrong. She could have a traumatic brain injury from hitting her head. Her heart may not take the strain well. Her lungs could not recover or she could start bleeding again. Her spleen was destroyed, so she’s more susceptible to infection. I don’t want to give you false hope. At this time, we simply don’t know her chances. We have to do the best we can with what we’ve got to work with.”

Damn the rebellion’s always tight budget and limited supplies. Damn it all to hell. 

“Can I see her?” 

The medic looks to Draven, then nods at Cassian. He’s led to a curtained off section of the ward. 

Jyn looks like she’s been through hell. Her cut off uniform was tossed aside and she was in what looked like hospital issued scrubs. He could see the outline of a bacta patch under her top. A tube was strapped to her face and ran down her throat. He could tell by the noise that it was breathing for her. She had multiple IV lines in her hands and arms. The medic points out the line in one hand that’s giving a blood transfusion which should, according to her, be short term. There is also a line in her arm set up to give Jyn fluids and medication and a large IV in the other the medic explains is for nutrition. 

“She shows signs of months of malnutrition and overwork…” a nurse comments, giving Cassian a dirty look as if he personally hurt Jyn. 

Draven explains that Jyn had recently come to the rebellion, had fought on Scarif, and had been in imperial prison before that. Cassian ignores it all, simply being relieved Jyn is alive. He spots her necklace on the bedside table. Without thinking, he hangs it around his own neck, keeping it for her when, or if, she wakes up. 

After hearing the full report, Draven turns to Cassian. “Captain, I know you want to stay, but we will need you in the War Room this afternoon. I can come get you.”

Cassian pulls up a chair, nodding an affirmative. He sits and takes Jyn’s hand, the one without an IV snaking out of it. 

Draven lays a hand on his shoulder for just a moment, then leaves with the medics. Cassian sits there, willing her to beat the odds again.


	8. Med Bay - Cassian

Cassian is back walking the beaches of Scarif, trying desperately to find Jyn. Instead, he finds destruction. His men are scattered around, all dead. Melshi is the one he recognizes, with a perfect blaster wound in his head. Farther up the beach are the Guardians of the Wills, both dead by blaster fire. He spots the area they landed and heads toward it, hoping Jyn decided to meet him at the ship. Instead, he finds despair. The ship is charred and broken apart. And worse, so is Bohdi, pieces of his body scattered among the wreckage. Cassian feels sick to his stomach, his quest to find Jyn manic now. He rushes for the waters edge and sees Jyn in the distance. But just as he reaches her, she falls at his feet, dead as well. He’s all alone, with only the Death Star looming above him for company. He watched it begin to fire…  
**********************

Cassian wakes, drenched in cold sweat. A medic runs in.  
“Sir… are you okay? I heard you scream …” 

Cassian collects himself. “Yes. Just a bad dream, didn’t mean to disturb you.” He was still at Jyn’s bedside. 

The medic takes a long look at him before nodding and going to get a scanner. She starts to check Jyn. Cassian tries to look like he has everything under control. He’s no stranger to nightmares but this one was a bit too real. Any nightmare would be too much right now, he had to admit. He apparently fell asleep in the ward as he refused all suggestions to go back to his quarters as he was “still healing”. 

The medic finishes her work, taking the scanner with her to look over the new information. Cassian is alone in the med bay when the door opens. The Corellian man from earlier steps inside, looking around for someone. When he spots Cassian, he hurries toward that end of the ward.  
“Is she okay?” He asks quietly. “I was going to leave but I had to see if she’d pulled through.” 

Cassian sighs. “She’s alive but beyond that, they don’t seem to know. She can’t breathe on her own and hit her head…”

The man nods. “She’s a hell of a fighter to have made it this far. Not many people survive a blaster to the chest.”  
“Thank you for saving her.” 

“Least I could do was help you. I’m Han Solo, Captain of the Millenium Falcon.”

“Captain Cassian Andor, Rebel Intellegence. She’s Sargeant Jyn Erso…. If she pulls through and doesn’t run screaming from the rebellion after this.”

“You were the two who brought the death star plans out.”

“Yeah. How did they get you working for the alliance?”

Han laughed. “I was hired to bring some farm boy, an old monk and two droids to Alderaan. Of course, we get there and Alderaan is gone. I get sucked into a space station and next thing I know, I’m rescuing a Princess and running a droid with the death star plans here.”

“You’re the one who made sure the plans got here with Leia… thank you.”

Han shrugged. “Doing what I was hired to do… So do you know why the man shot her?” He indicated Jyn. 

Cassian sighed. “Her father is the man who built the Death Star. That story got out faster than the story that he left a flaw to destroy it. The man lost his family to it. Jyn was who he took that out on.” 

Han sighed. “And does she know how you feel about her?”

Cassian looked at him dumbfounded. “What?”

“I understand Festian, Captain. I know what you were telling her.”

Cassian also sighed. “No. I didn’t have a chance to tell her before now…”

Han stood to go. “Be careful on that chance. Love means more to lose.”  
And with that, he was gone. 

Cassian sits, staring at Jyn’s lifeless form. The medic returned.

“Ready for an update?” She says in a falsely chipper tone.  
Cassian nods, preparing to hear the worst.

“While you were asleep we had to start her on pain medication. The surgical drugs wore off and she was reacting. Which is good.”

“Her being in pain is good?”

“Her reacting to pain means she’s more alert than we thought. When I scanned her, she’s making small improvements. Her heart doesn’t show any damage and the bacta patches are helping her damaged lung heal. That might lead to her soon coming off her vent, if it continues. Hopefully her nutrition therapy is going to help her regain strength if she pulls through. We’d like to switch her to a feeding tube, but since the shot did damage to her stomach as well, we’d rather wait. As for her head… there is a little swelling of her brain. That’s not a good sign. But it’s not as bad as it could be. If it stays like it is, she won’t need surgery. We just have to wait and see. People don’t realize how much force a blaster has until they’re shot with one. She hit the ground hard.” 

“So where do we go from here?” 

“We want to get her into a Bacta Tank, but won’t be able to until she’s breathing on her own. Until then, we just do what we can with patches and other applications. She’s fighting”

Cassian nods as the medic places a tray of bacta under her head and changing the patch on her chest and stomach. Cassian dipped a clean handkerchief in Bacta and laid it across Jyn’s forehead, willing it to help. The medic leaves again.  
He continued his vigil, holding Jyn’s hand. While he was asleep, her blood transfusion finished, leaving the IV port in her other hand taped off. He takes that hand as well, holding on to her as if he was afraid she’d be pulled away.  
\------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------  
Cassian doesn’t have long with his thoughts. Only minutes pass before another guest enters the Med Bay. It’s General Draven, carrying a tray from the mess hall. He hands it to Cassian. 

“We will need you in the War room in 20 minutes Captain and we need you at your best.”

Cassian nods and starts to eat without tasting anything on the plate. He’s surprised by the General’s actions. Draven has always been the military leader, the one who would make unpopular choices. This fatherly attitude was new. Cassian wondered what prompted the change. 

The general broke the silence. “When I was your age,” He starts, “We were in the middle of the Clone Wars. I with the republic. Warriors from my home fought with the Jedi…. Then the first act of the Empire was to wipe out the Jedi… and the warriors with them.”

Cassian listens. The General had never told him about his past. Ever. 

“My home lost everything. The empire didn’t care. Some tried to seek their revenge. I tried to stay but. . . the young woman I wanted to marry… she was lost in the fighting. I had planned a home and a family when the fighting ended….but it never did. Instead, I joined the rebellion. I’ve risked everything for it… but we can’t risk everything for retribution … that doesn’t right the wrongs done. Don’t ever forget what we’re fighting for. A future.”

Cassian nods.

“And don’t stop fighting for her.” Draven says in a voice barely above a whisper. “Even when you might lose…. It’s worth fighting for.” 

Draven sits his hand on Cassian’s shoulder. “Ready to go?” He asks.  
Cassian nods. He takes off his jacket and lays it over Jyn like a blanket. He kisses her forehead and tells her he’ll be back soon for her.

Then taking his cane, he follows the general to the War Room.


	9. War Room - Cassian

Cassian arrives at the War Room to find it in a state of controlled panic. He takes his seat next to the General. 

Princess Leia opens the meeting. She begins “we came to plan our assault on the Death Star. However, we must move up that timetable. In less than one hour, the Death Star will be here, above Yavin.”

Cassian looks around the table. Most people are fearful, only having heard the damage the weapon can do. Cassian has seen it firsthand. He’s terrified. 

Leia brings attention back to the front and hands off control to an engineer who explains the best course of action to destroy the Death Star. Assuming of course, it doesn’t turn them into dust first. 

Questions are asked and preparations made to brief the pilots. Han Solo informs them of the defenses he saw on the Death Star and Cassian tells what he can remember of the priming sequence that preceded the firing of the weapon. 

Leia wraps up the meeting. “I know this is a frightening time,” She says, “But I believe our fighters will take out the Death Star. May the force be with us all.”

General Dadonna goes to brief the pilots and others in the room settle in to wait to hear the mission comms. Cassian rises to leave. Draven looks confused.   
“Where are you going?” He asks.   
“Back to the med bay… if it fires…. That’s where I want to be.”

Draven nods and hands Cassian a com link so he can listen into the mission. “May the force be with us all” Cassian says, taking his leave. 

\------------------------------------------------  
The walk back to the med bay is filled with dark thoughts. Cassian wonders if the Death Star will really get them this time… they avoided it in Jedha and Scarif. Would Yavin IV be their end?

He is surprised to find when he returned that Jyn was off her ventilator and breathing on her own. She’s still unconscious but is starting to Be responsive to noise and light, instead of just pain. The medic currently on duty tells him that if she kept breathing properly through the night, she’ll be able to go into a Bacta tank the next morning.   
“That should speed her recovery.” He adds. “She’s not out of the woods yet, but it’s a good sign. She might be able to hear you if you talk to her.”

Cassian doesnt know if the medic was unaware the death star was approaching or if he is simply focusing on what he could control. Cassian turns the com link on and adjusted the volume to low. He sat in his usual spot, Holding Jyn’s hand in his. Quietly, he starts talking to her.

“Jyn….the Death Star is coming here. They think they can destroy it but if not… I just have to tell you. I love you. I think I’ve loved you since the moment you stole a blaster from me and got offended when I called you on it. If we had died on Scarif, I was okay with that. So if it happens now, I just want to be with you.” 

Cassian sits in silence for a few moments, listening to the final preparations for the attack over the com link.   
As he hears the pilots begin to take off, he tightens his grip on Jyn’s hands. He had been ready to die with her before, he would be ready again.

Cassian spends the next minutes focusing on the kyber necklace he still wore and the feeling of Jyn’s hands in his. Two runs at the Death Star are unsuccessful but a third has the newest pilot hit the target. Cassian holds his breath until he heard it confirmed over the com. The Death Star is gone. The rebellion wins, but lost many of their fighters. Such is the tide of war. 

Cassian drags another cot over so it was sitting against Jyn’s bed. He crawls in, beyond ready for sleep now that the tension was finally over. When Draven comes to check in, he found his best spy asleep, still holding Jyn Erso’s hand.


	10. Med Bay - Cassian

Most of the next day passes in a blur for Cassian. Jyn is cleared to be put in a Bacta tank first thing in the morning. Cassian gets talked into getting another Bacta treatment as well. For once the rebellion could spare long treatments and extra time, they hadn’t had injuries after the Battle of Yavin. Of course most of the fighters also hadn’t come back…

Cassian finds himself sleeping most of the day. He tells himself it’s because of the sedatives and the bacta, but he hasn’t healed fully yet. Every time he wakes, he checks to make sure Jyn is okay…. before going back to sleep. 

After 12 hours, they take Jyn out of the tank and check her over. The medic happily reports that her lungs are healing and the swelling in her brain has gone down. Jyn may need to be sedated for her head to finish healing but she’s expected to come out of her coma. Cassian is told that she will have worse symptoms than before due to having a second concussion but altogether… she should make a full recovery. 

Cassian has never felt so relieved.He tugs his cot next to hers again but before he can go back to sleep, he’s interrupted by someone hitting the doors of the med bay full speed. He sits up, on the defensive. It’s Han Solo… with Princess Leia, another man, and…. is that a Wookiee?

That’s definitely a wookie. 

“Captain Andor” Leia calls across the ward. Cassian struggles to his feet to salute, wishing he wasn’t in his pajamas right about now. 

“No need for that Captain, we need to speak with you.” She continues. Cassian sits on the edge of his bed. 

“I thought you were leaving?” Cassian asks Han. He and the other man are wearing medals around their necks. 

“Had to make sure you all didn’t get wiped out by the Death Star” Han quips. 

The other man must be the new pilot, the one who shot down the Death Star.   
“How is she?” Leia asks, gesturing at Jyn. 

“She’s recovering.” Cassian replies. “She’s really lucky.”

“All I can say is that …. That man doesn’t speak for Alderaan…. We would never…”

“I know.”

Leia sat in the chair near the cots. “However, we have a bigger problem. We have to evacuate Yavin. The empire knows we are here and are coming. While the main base will have a little time… we have to get you and Jyn out. Tonight.”

“Why?”

“We have word the Empire knows who engineered the mission to Scarif… And with Jyn… they’d like Galen’s daughter to make an example of… I’d like to assume you are safe here, but after the attack on Jyn… I’m not sure who to trust among our new ranks. The Death Star did bring more people to us, but that also brings more danger. I also cannot guarantee no one else will go for her as revenge…” 

“I understand but can’t we wait until....” 

“No. We think that spies may be here already. Since we think the Empire knows of your involvement, I’d like to get you to safety as well… and I know you will want to stay together with her. I know there is a risk moving her but I’d hoped you could take care of her…. A little rougher medical care is nothing compared to the risk of the empire torturing her. Or you.”

“How are we getting out? I can’t pilot yet.”

“Chewie and I will take you.” Han Solo said, stepping forward, while the wookie roared in agreement. 

“Okay.” Cassian says. “What do we need to do?”   
“Go pack” Leia said. “Han will get the ship ready to go… Luke is going to help load supplies before returning to the other pilots. I’ll deal with the medics and things for Jyn.”

“Are you coming with us?” 

“No. I’ll be here with the others until I find a way to help those left stranded from the destruction of Alderaan. Luke will stay with the X-Wing pilots until the main evacuation.”

“Where are we going?”

“We are working a plan out. But right now, the important thing is for you to not be here. If we get you out when everyone else is in bed…. You’ll be safer. You’ve got an hour before you leave Captain. Hurry.”

Cassian nods, takes his cane, and begins the walk back to his quarters. His gait is steadier although nerves have him shaken. He has to keep it together to get Jyn to safety.


	11. Yavin IV

Cassian surveys his quarters. Twenty years on his own has not given him much in the way of personal possessions. He grabs a knapsack from his closet and begins to fill them. Mostly clothes go in, Cassian is forever practical. He tosses in a few extra pieces in case Leia can’t find enough for Jyn too… he’d rather have her wearing his clothes than Solo’s…. 

Cassian shakes the thought from his head. He needs to focus. He looks through the few possessions Jyn brought back with her from the med bay. Not much had survived Scarif. He tucks her vest in one of the bags as well as her blaster and holster. He checks to make sure her Kyber Crystal is still tucked securely around his neck. 

Cassian is adding more to his bag when there is a knock on the door. He moves to open it and is surprised to find General Draven on the other side. The General is carrying a bag as well. 

“Sir?...”  
“May I come in?”

Cassian moves aside to allow Draven access, really wishing he’d made his bed with the usual military precision the morning before. But when he’d woken up with Jyn Erso in his bed, however innocently, that’d been the last thing on his mind. Draven ignores this and sits on it anyway, surprising Cassian. 

“I don’t know where you’re going Captain Andor and I don’t want to, you and Sgt. Erso are much safer that way. But there are a few things I need to give you. Please sit down.”

Cassian sat on the bed next to Draven, feeling that the world was even crazier than it was an hour ago. The General opened the bag. 

“A blaster and a few other weapons for you… I got you all I could… especially as someone…. Or two someones … took a good chunk of our equipment and got it blown up on Scarif.”

Cassian looked up startled before he realized the general was teasing him. That was new and very unexpected. Would this week’s wonders never cease? 

“Thank you sir. And I’m sorry sir.”

“Also… there should have been a ceremony. But… due to recent events.”

Draven pulls a small box out of the bag. Inside are patches for uniforms.   
“We are granting Sgt. Erso the rank she was given on the battlefield...if she chooses to stay with the Alliance. As an honor to the bravery she showed and the men who gave her that rank. And you’re being promoted.”  
“Sir? I defied orders… that’s not…”  
“This isn’t the Empire Captain. Sometimes… it takes a push to make us see what’s really right. And your actions made it where we could eliminate the Death Star. Major Andor, that’s quite an achievement.”  
“Thank you sir.”  
“I’d have gotten you a medal as well, but the council didn’t want to go that far in promoting insubordination.”  
“I suppose that wouldn’t look good... “ Cassian chuckles.   
“Also…” Draven pulls a data chip out of the bag and shows it to Cassian. “I don’t know if you knew this, but your droid backed himself up before every mission. He did secretly before you left for Scarif.”  
Cassian feels like he can’t breathe.  
“That’s… kaytoo’s memory?”  
“Yes. If you can find a droid to put it in and the back-up is good, you could restore him.”  
Cassian is speechless for a minute. He lost a lot of good people on Scarif, but he’d felt empty without Kaytoo at his side since he came back. 

“Thank you…. For everything General.”  
“Thank you son. You’ve given us hope.”

And Draven embraces Cassian in a way that was both completely alien and familiar at the same time. It was a father’s embrace, once Cassian hadn’t had for at least two decades. When it ended, Draven stands up and heads for the door. 

“I’ll walk you back but… you may want to get dressed.”

Cassian looks down and realizes he is still in his pajamas. Dammit.

Once Cassian had everything in his bag and was fully dressed, Draven walks him back to the med bay. He took one of the bags and slowed his pace to Cassian’s slow walk with his cane. Cassian is grateful for the dignity these simple actions gave him. Upon arrival at the med bay, he is impressed by how quickly Leia worked. Jyn’s hair is washed and braided, she was cleaned up and in new scrubs. There is only one IV port left in her hand and it’s taped off. A bag sits next to her bed, packed and ready to go. Leia bustles into the room with a medic and another bag. 

“Oh good, you’re back. General Draven, were you informed of the evacuation of Captain Andor?”  
“Only what I need to know. And it is Major Andor now.”  
“Very well. Major, let the medics look you over before we leave and they’ll give Sgt. Erso one last check-up as well. I’m sending a bag of all the medical supplies you could need until you get to where you’re going.”  
“Where are we going?” Cassian asks, sitting on the edge of the second cot and letting the medic run a scanner over his back.   
“I don’t know.” Leia replies. “It’s safer if we don’t know where you are until we are safe too. Han is taking you somewhere he promised will be safe and you can finish recovering. He has a plan to get you there undetected Then, when we evacuate here, we can send you our new base location.”

The medic finishes scanning Cassian and tells him he’ll continue to recover, but he shouldn’t be on active duty anytime soon. She then moves to Jyn and her look gets more disapproving. 

“She really shouldn’t be moved… not until much later.”  
“We don’t have much of a choice,” Cassian answers.  
“You’ll have to keep her hydrated, watch for signs of infection and make sure she rests… she’s been starting to stir, so we gave her a light sedative to keep her asleep until you’re in hyperspace.”  
“I packed everything you might possibly need,” Leia adds, holding her heavy bag out to Cassian, who looks through it. It contains bottles of injectable medication as well as pills, bacta patches, supplies and bags of IV fluids. “You have basic medic training, yes?”

“Yes” Cassian replies.   
“Then you’re ready to go when Han and Chewbacca come back.”

As if on cue, the doors to the medbay open and Solo and the wookiee return. 

“Are we ready?” Han asks.   
“Yes” reply Leia and Cassian together. Cassian moves closer to the bed, as if to take Jyn with him, but Han sets a hand on his shoulder.   
“Chewie’s got her. I’ll take some bags. You take care of you, Captain.”

Draven hands his bag to Han, who also picks up Jyn’s bag and the medical supplies, leaving Cassian with a knapsack and a cane. He faces General Draven and stands at attention.

“General,”  
“Major Andor. May the force be with you.”

Cassian salutes, Draven returns it. Leia makes sure Jyn is securely wrapped in a blanket before the wookiee lifts her into his arms. Leia turns to Han.

“Captain Solo. Han… please be careful.”  
“Don’t worry Princess, I’ll come back to you in one piece.”  
Leia playfully swipes at him before giving Chewbacca a hug goodbye and shaking Cassian’s hand.  
“Major. I can’t thank you enough.”  
“I did what I had to do ma’am… I’m sorry about your father. I admired Bail.”  
“War has casualties… we have to win for them.”

With that, the motley little crew consisting of one smuggler captain, one rebellion Major, a wookiee and an unconscious partisan headed to the Millenium Falcon.


End file.
